[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/06\/16\/what-is-digital-transformation\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/06\/16\/what-is-digital-transformation\/","headline":"What the heck is digital transformation? A real-talk definition","name":"What the heck is digital transformation? A real-talk definition","description":"What is digital transformation? The term is often used refers to any number of new technologies like: cloud computing, social media, mobility, smart devices, wearables, virtual reality, IoT (Internet of Things), etc.","datePublished":"2016-06-16","dateModified":"2021-08-31","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/john-burton\/#Person","name":"John Burton","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/john-burton\/","identifier":169,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f15edf4041caf9e0cb5ef6bcb8f12bb531572439625629a1610ec0b25742e55?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f15edf4041caf9e0cb5ef6bcb8f12bb531572439625629a1610ec0b25742e55?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/thumbnail-466b9aaac510db7ff10d9d37cb3e7295.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/thumbnail-466b9aaac510db7ff10d9d37cb3e7295.jpeg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/06\/16\/what-is-digital-transformation\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/sales\/crm\/","name":"CRM","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_relationship_management","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q485643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/customer-engagement-marketing\/","name":"Customer Engagement","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_engagement","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q5196451"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/intelligent-enterprise\/","name":"Intelligent Enterprise","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Intelligent_enterprise","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q6044119"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/social-media\/","name":"Social Media","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Social_media","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q202833"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/trends-commerce\/","name":"Trends","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fad","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q787045"]},"UX"],"wordCount":772,"keywords":["CRM | Customer Relationship Management","CRM Trends","Customer Engagement","Customer Experience | CX","Digital Transformation","Marketing","Technology Trends"],"articleBody":"As a forty-something aging hipster, I try my best to stay current with pop-culture trends and memes. I wear super-skinny jeans to the office. My Twitter hashtag game is still #OnFleek. And I\u2019ve mastered both the \u201cDabb\u201d and the \u201cWhip\/Nae Nae\u201d dances. But keeping up with CRM trends is not quite as easy! For example, these days in CRM it\u2019s apparently chic to be \u201cdigital\u201d…whatever that means.If you talk to a group of executives, almost all of them will nod their heads proudly and profess to be undergoing some kind of digital transformation initiative.But if you ask people what \u201cdigital transformation\u201d means, suddenly everyone looks down in silence at their brogue oxfords (or flip flops, if you\u2019re in Silicon Valley).What is digital transformation: Definition in simple terms\u201cDigital transformation\u201d is the latest cool buzzword replacing older, formerly-cool buzzwords like: \u201cWeb 2.0,\u201d \u201cEnterprise 2.0,\u201d \u201cSocial Business,\u201d \u201cSocial Enterprise,\u201d and \u201cDigital Enterprise.\u201dEssentially, the term \u201cdigital transformation\u201d is often refers to any number of cool(ish), new(ish) technologies like: cloud computing, social media, mobility, smart connected devices, wearables, virtual reality, IoT (Internet of Things), etc.However, if you ask me, the term \u201cdigital transformation\u201d doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense. Clock-radios from the 1980s were digital, weren\u2019t they? So were fax machines. And pagers. And that old BlackBerry in the bottom desk drawer, sitting by the even older Palm Pilot. So why is \u201cdigital\u201d suddenly being used a proxy for new and cool?And what exactly are companies transforming with digital technologies anyway? Does retooling your company\u2019s website to optimally run on mobile devices constitute a \u201cdigital transformation\u201d?If you hire an intern to create an Instagram page for your brand, have you suddenly joined the digital economy? Did you really transform your organization\u2019s business processes, or did you merely add another social media channel so your team can send out the same old spam?Digital transformation: Real-life examplesThere are, however, some examples of companies that have succeeded at true digital transformation:Netflix, for example, was famously able to disrupt (and bankrupt) traditional brick-and-mortal video rental retailers like Blockbuster with the new paradigm of digital-video streaming. In fact, last I heard, every Blockbuster store in the country (with the exception of nine Blockbuster locations in Alaska) had all been shuttered.On the other hand, H&R Block was able to avoid a similar fate by transforming it\u2019s business model in response to competition from online tax preparation products like Turbo Tax that allow people to prepare and file their taxes online without going into a branch office. So far at least H&R Block has been able to fend off the attacks from digital tools like Turbo Tax by launching its own online offering.Google Nest is another perfect example of true digital transformation. Every-day household items such as garage door openers, front door locks, lights, water faucets, and thermostats had remained virtually unchanged for decades. But now they can all be controlled remotely from an app on your mobile phone.One less obvious example is athletic apparel upstart Under Armour, which has been able to disrupt the business of traditional athletic apparel manufacturers like Nike and Adidas by building a huge online digital health and fitness community of over 80 million users (thanks to various acquisitions of online fitness communities like MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal, and Edmondo).      Smart home AI for digital dummies                Smart home AI presents tremendous opportunities for the utilities industry to capitalize on simplification of connectivity.      Think smarter – because your competition isI\u2019m sure that you can think of dozens or more examples, whether it is Yelp making printed telephone books obsolete, Waze replacing that old stand-alone GPS device on your car dashboard, Airbnb disrupting the hotel business, or Uber revolutionizing the antiquated taxi cab paradigm\u2014or any of countless other examples.So how does this affect the software developers, product managers, marketers, pre-sales engineers, and account reps?It\u2019s pretty safe to assume that no customer is ever going to call and ask, \u201cHey, where can I buy some of this digital transformation stuff?\u201d But it\u2019s our responsibility, as a trusted partner of our customers, to think about emerging digital technologies and how our customers might leverage them to redefine their own business processes.In the meantime, my wife and I are still waiting for someone to make an app will enable our son to make his bed or put the toilet seat back down remotely from his smart phone. Now that would truly be transformative!  Ready to become an intelligent enterprise?Get started\u00a0HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2016","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"06","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/\/06\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"16","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/\/06\/\/16\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"What the heck is digital transformation? A real-talk definition","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/06\/16\/what-is-digital-transformation\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]